章 32: Tekkai

"Hah… Nami, when will we reach the Grandline?" Luffy asked with exhaustion as he sat on top of Merry.

Nami was laying down on the chair while reading the newspaper as she replied.

"I already told you many times. It will take two or three days. Besides, shouldn't you start training as well?"

Luffy looked at her and asked "What about you? Didn't you say that you also want to train?"

"Me? I am tired of training. I will continue later."

Hearing her words, Zoro who was training nearby rolled his eyes. In fact, Nami barely stuck with training for ten minutes.

Luffy thought for a moment.

'Should I really train in the ship? What if I break it? Well, Usopp and Liam can fix it so I should also train.'

Finally, Luffy decided to train as well. He didn't start with weights rather he stood at the top of the Merry and wrapped his legs around her. After that, he started contracting his legs.

This process was very painful because he was contracting his leg while keeping it stretched. The pain was constantly showing off on his face but Luffy didn't care.

He had already borne so much pain in the child. This was nothing compared to that. He simply continued contracting his legs. This was something he came up with by himself.

While he stretched his body, he noticed some part of his wasn't stretched. Like when he used Gomu-Gomu No- Pistol, he only stretched his arm, not his hand.

That means if he can contract one part of the body while stretching another part, he would be able to launch a devastating attack. But then he suddenly remembered. It wasn't something he came up with.

Liam did suggest something like that but at that time, he didn't listen properly.

"Argh!"

Luffy grunted in pain and finally, his legs couldn't hold and stopped stretching altogether but when his legs returned to normal, the impact was so powerful that it sent Luffy toward the sky.

"Ahhhh!" Nami screamed when she saw Luffy going toward the sky but Zoro and others didn't care.

Splash!

After a few minutes, he finally fell onto the sea. Nami immediately jumped from the sea and went to bring up.

"You idiot, why did you do something so reckless?"

"Hah! Hah! Hah!" Luffy didn't reply as he was panting hard. But eventually, he threw water from his mouth with two raw fish and shook his head.

"I didn't know what would happen."

"You were trying to stretch and contract your body at the same time, weren't you? You idiot, when you stopped stretching the force released out of contraction will impact your body." Nami smacked her face and shouted.

"Huh?" Luffy looked at her with confusion.

Nami sighed and said "Listen carefully! When you stretched your body, it will eventually return to normal. By contracting your body, it will also eventually return to normal."

"But, there is one major difference. While stretching allows you to release the power, contraction stores the power. When your stretching released to normal, you forgot to release the power of contraction so it was automatically released when your legs returned to normal."

"Of course, if you release the power of contraction together with the power of stretching, then the power will be four times than before."

"Oh! You mean I should release contraction before stretching my arm?" Luffy asked.

Nami suddenly blinked her eyes. She did mean it that way but she didn't expect Luffy to get it. She touched her chin and tilted her head.

'Is he acting stupid most of the time?'

But the next moment, she shook her head and thought 'Nope! He is indeed stupid. But, when it comes to battles, he can be someone our crew can depend on. I believe Liam feels the same way.'

Bang!

Suddenly, Luffy's fist pierced the deck and made a hole in it. Seeing this, Nami got furious and smacked Luffy's head.

"You idiot, don't try it here!"

"Sorry! Sorry!" Luffy apologized as his arm returned to normal.

Nami sighed and muttered, "Why is Liam taking so long?"

Inside the Cabin,

"So, can you do it?" Liam looked at Usopp and asked.

Usopp looked at the paper with a design of a gun and touched his chin.

"It shouldn't be hard but if you want me to create the bullet out of those rods, it would be hard. Remember, we don't have a furnace here."

"You are correct but we have to do it. Right now, we can't fight against Devil Fruit users especially when they are too powerful. The only way to do so is by using tricks."

"The bullet made out of Sea Prism Stone would be great to have during the battle. Not to mention, if you manage to develop this gun, we would be able to even the stronger opponent."

"Liam, your gun isn't properly. I can create it as long as I get the required materials. But, you know just how hard Sea Prism Stone is right? To melt it, we would need high-temperature flames."

"How about this? If we reach the next island, we can dig a big hole and start a fire. We will use every flammable thing we have to increase the intensity of the flame and then melt the Sea Prism Stone."

"I know it is going to be troublesome but we need it, Usopp." Liam continued to persuade Usopp for it.

Usopp finally sighed "Alright, I will try my best."

"That's our Usopp." Liam patted his shoulder with a big smile on his face. He turned his head to the side and shouted "Sanji, is food ready?"

"Didn't you just eat the breakfast?" Sanji helplessly spoke. Unlike Luffy, Liam doesn't steal food but his hunger isn't any less than Luffy's.

"But, I consumed all of it during training. Anyway, I will continue training. Cook something else, kay?" Saying so, Liam rushed out of the cabin.

"Hai! Hai! I won't let anyone go hungry." Sanji sighed and slowly smiled as he started cooking.

On other hand, Usopp was looking at the drawing.

'Machine Gun, is it? If we can have this kind of gun, we would be able to fight much better and faster. Liam's idea is amazing. But, how can I create a motor so small?'

Usopp stumbled upon a problem but he didn't give up.

Outside the Cabin,

"Oi Luffy, why did you make such a big hole in the ship?" Liam shouted at Luffy.

"I was just training." Luffy innocently replied.

'I wished Franky was here.' Liam sighed and took out the plank. While stitching the plank, Liam muttered.

"Don't worry, Merry. We might not find a shipwright now but I will do everything to keep you in a good situation."

Although Liam said that, he knew it would be impossible. He was just trying to cheer up himself. Unless a miracle happens, Merry will eventually die.

The death of the ship wouldn't be much of a problem for most crews in the world but for Straw Hats, it would be crucial. Because just like them, their ship is also very unique.

Liam sighed. He quickly finished patching up Merry and started training. Right now, he wanted to train Tekkai. The principle behind this technique is fairly simple to say but hard to use.

It requires one to concentrate on their muscles on a molecular level to stiff them. Doing so will restrict the movement of the user but it will give immense defensive capabilities.

After training this technique for a while, user can also increase their muscle strength, slowly increasing their overall strength. This technique is truly useful for all straw hats, even for Luffy.

That's why he asked Luffy to practice this technique. It's just that Luffy wasn't motivated to practice something that isn't related to his devil fruit. So, he planned to train this technique first and then show it to Luffy to convince him.

While training this technique, Liam was simply exhausted in less than twenty minutes. Stiffing one's muscles takes a lot of toll on the body. CP9 and other marines have been training this for a long time.

But, Liam has just started it. After twenty minutes, he rested for a while, and a thought came to his mind at this moment.

'Rokushiki isn't something that Marines would simply let the pirates have. Although I killed that marine captain at the end, the marines outside should have told the HQ about my torture.'

'No wonder, Ryokugyu would try to kill us. If he was present here from the beginning and affiliated with the marines, it all makes sense. He didn't join marines because there was no position for Admiral.'

'He had Logia fruit and the strength of the admiral. Of course, he wouldn't be happy with any rank lower than that. In the story, he said that he hadn't eaten anything for three years.'

'If he wasn't a marine, would marines let a powerful individual like him kill other people in order to absorb their life force and fed himself? Of course not! So, he must be a bounty hunter who was affiliated to marines, waiting for a chance to become an admiral.'

'That must be it.'